Williams and Hugo are also known as the Grammy-winning production duo The Neptunes.
N*E*R*D's sound is a blend of rock, hip-hop, and R&B. N*E*R*D stands for "No-one Ever Really Dies".
Williams and Hugo originally recorded the band's debut album, In Search Of..., for European release in 2001 using similar digital production techniques used on Neptunes-produced records. However, they decided that if N*E*R*D was to be different from The Neptunes, it should sound different. This led to them re-recording the album (still titled In Search Of...) with the power pop band Spymob for worldwide release in 2002.
In Search Of... achieved moderate success in the United States.: the album reached number 59 on the Billboard 200; its first single, Lapdance, reached the top 40 on the rap charts; and its second single, Rock Star, reached the top 40 of the modern rock charts in the US and is still incredibly popular today. "Lapdance" also went top 40 in the Netherlands and its music video received heavy airplay on American MTV2. The album was well-received by critics even though it was not as successful as many of the Neptunes' productions for other artists.
The album won the second annual Shortlist Music Prize, awarded (by a group of musicians, journalists, and other music professionals) for Best Album that had sold less than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination. The band performed at the show, bragging that the week prior to the ceremony, the album had, in fact, achieved gold status by selling over 500,000 units.
Fly or Die
The band recorded their second album Fly or Die during 2003. The band actually learned to play the tunes live, as Chad Hugo told MTV News on December 9, 2003: "We're the ones playing the instruments live this time. "I just started playing guitar last year so I'm learning as we go. Pharrell's playing drums. [Last time] we didn't have time to learn certain instruments so we got Spymob to help us out."
The band also recruited some assistance to record the album with Lenny Kravitz playing on the track Maybe (which has been featured in ads for XM Satellite Radio) and Joel Madden and Benji Madden of Good Charlotte playing on the track Jump. Several of the tracks discuss issues of particular concern to adolescents, for example Thrasher, which is about bullies; Drill Sergeant, about rebellion; and Backseat Love, which talks about first love.
Fly or Die went on sale on March 22, 2004. The album went top 10 in the USA, while the lead-off single, She Wants to Move, went top 5 in the UK, top 20 in Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, and top 30 in Australia and top 40 in the USA and the Netherlands. The music videos for "She Wants To Move" and its followup single, "Maybe", received strong support from music video stations globally.
In 2005, N.E.R.D ended their contract with Virgin Records. After becoming "hooked" on the energy from their fans, the band began recording their third studio album, spending their own money. Williams and Hugo later established Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records.
Seeing Sounds
The third album from N*E*R*D is called Seeing Sounds. The album's title, as well as its content, revolves around the neurological phenomenon of synesthesia, the mixing of sensory modalities. After touring in promotion of their previous album, Fly or Die, N.E.R.D felt that album was too consistent. For their following album, they wanted to create the atmosphere of hyperactivity they knew their fans wanted.
The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 80,000 in its first week. It received mixed reviews, with critics lauding the production of the album. Some writers called the record N.E.R.D's best album to date, while others criticized Williams' singing and the album's content.
The album was released on June 10, 2008. The first single off the album, titled "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)" featured a video with fans as well as stars like Lindsay Lohan and Kanye West. In June 2008, the second single off the album, titled "Spaz", was used in a TV commercial for the Microsoft Zune. The third single "Sooner or Later" featured a video dedicated to America's economic crisis.
Nothing
In 2010, N.E.R.D announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled Nothing, which had a scheduled release date for September 7, 2010, but was pushed back to November 2, 2010. The first single from the album, "Hot-n-Fun" featuring Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, was released on May 18, 2010, on iTunes. It was released in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2010. On August 20, 2010, a track titled "Party People" leaked onto the internet. It was rumored to be the second single from the album. On September 28, 2010, they premiered another track from the album titled "Hypnotize U" on Late Show with David Letterman, produced by electronic music duo Daft Punk. On September 30, 2010, in an interview with Mark Hoppus on A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus, Pharrell explained the album cover as "a mix of so many things. The feathers represent the peace, and the helmet represents the war. It's like where we are right now. There's a lot of war, that people can't necessarily explain. The economy sucks, girls are still beautiful. We wanted to make music that reflected that. So people can look back twenty years from now, and say 'this is what was going on'". They then announced in the interview that the next two singles would be "I've Seen the Light" and "Hypnotize U". Pharrell described "Hypnotize U" as being "so different from the rest of the album", stating he was "very pleased because it serves a different purpose" in the album. On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes. Nothing debuted at number twenty one on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 20,000 copies.
The albums concept was to create a time capsule about America's divisions, "so that ten years from now people remember that era." Sonically the album was inspired by the late 60's and early 70's psychedelic pop.
Pharrell explained: "I just wanted to make some good music that would affect people in a good way." Williams says it wasn't easy. N*E*R*D worked on "a previous body of work which was really good, but it wasn't timeless to me. I didn't feel like we were pushing ourselves as much as we could. We needed to perfect the sound, so we kept pushing the date back until it was right." The result includes "a lot of vintage sounds...The album is very '68-'72, '73, America meets Crosby, Stills & Nash meets Moody Blues."
Nothing received mixed to positive reviews from most music critics.
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES
In 2013, Pharrell confirmed a N.E.R.D album was in progress, but also mentioned that the album would not be released that year due to the projects he was working on with other artists. He has also said the album will be "nature-based". The group reunited on December 26, 2014, to release the songs "Squeeze Me," "Patrick Star," and "Sandy Squirrel" for the film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
On February 6, 2017, during an interview with BBC Radio 1, Pharrell stated that "it's feeling really good, really special" about the group's return.
In October 2017, the album was teased after posters were popping up on the side of streets, and by concertgoers at the 2017 Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival.
It was preceded by three singles; "Lemon" with Rihanna, "1000" with Future, and "Don't Don't Do It!" with Kendrick Lamar.
The album was debuted with a live listening party during the first day at ComplexCon, thus revealing the tracklist. Pharrell revealed the album's cover art and release date via Instagram and Twitter on November 22, 2017.
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES was released on December 15, 2017 through I Am Other and Columbia Records. It features guest appearances from Rihanna, André 3000, Kendrick Lamar, M.I.A., Gucci Mane, Wale, Future and Ed Sheeran among others. The album presented a radical change in sound compared to Nothing, heavily influenced by 80's New Wave and Post-Punk.
“Mr. Williams had been listening to the nervy jangle of post-punk and avant-punk: Gang of Four, Suicide, Devo, Talking Heads,” the Times reported in a December profile. “Once I identified all my pieces,” Williams said, “I was like, ‘Yo, I don’t want to make any more linear songs.’ ” N.E.R.D’s fifth album, “NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES,” released in December, delights in the aimless, anything-plays spirit of post-punk and New Wave—an era that Pharrell, Chad Hugo, and Shay Haley watched firsthand as students of nineteen-eighties MTV."
To make sense of “NO ONE EVER REALLY DIES,” it helps to spend time with the cartoonish yelps of Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh on “Uncontrollable Urge” or David Byrne on “Life During Wartime.” Those front men both shout-sing somewhere higher than mid-range; Byrne has mentioned that, on “Once in a Lifetime,” he evoked the quivering timbre of a southern evangelical preacher whom he’d taped off of local radio. Fans are used to Pharrell’s many voices: the falsetto made famous on “Frontin’,” the breezy and conversational way that he rapped on “Mr. Me Too,” even the showman croon on “Happy.” But this latest voice, on such tracks as “Rollinem 7’s” and “ESP,” searches for a slightly goofball tone that offsets stone-serious messages, like “What possessed the slave to look in the river / Then he saw his true master, fuck is a ‘mister’?” and “Detach yourself, repack yourself / Be back yourself, and dream as yourself.” Many music fans winced at the sight of the new album’s credits, worried that its several guest slots meant a muddy, scattered N.E.R.D. project, but the most unexpected voice on it belongs to Pharrell, who finds new angles for his instrument almost fifteen years in.
This shape-shifting extends to the album’s production, an unrelenting tangle of stuttering rhythms, tempo changes, bridges, and every other misdirection the band can jam in. “Lemon,” the opening track, is the most generous to pop form, and “Deep Down Body Thurst” takes traditional N.E.R.D. piano chords and lays them under new, challenging shapes. You can hear shades of the song’s stomping guitar in the English Beat’s “Mirror in the Bathroom,” itself a mutation of the ska sound that took hold in the U.K. “Don’t Don’t Do It!” pushes through its hook in the same fashion: while the verses are smooth and bluesy, the chorus bursts open in three steamy riffs. (“Don’t, don’t do it!” “They’re gonna do it anyway!” “They. Are. Go-nna. Do. It anyway!”) “Kites” is just as sprawling, bobbing between a double-time punk stomp and trunk-melting trap as Kendrick Lamar and M.I.A. vent about flying over borders and walls on both ends of the beat.
NO_ONE EVER REALLY DIES received positive reviews from music critics.
Am I High
N*E*R*D Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
La la, la la
Listen
La la la
Hey
Didn't you know I can help or hurt you (didn't you know?)
So there's no reason to lie
Convince you that they are fly
I never said I was an angel
Said, "But I ain't like those other guys"
Listen
You're convinced that our experience rearranged you
Well maybe you should re-examine how you tried
Or
Am I high?
Hey, am I high, high, high?
Yeah, oh no, woah
Am I high?
Ooh ooh, high, I, I
Yeah, oh no, woah
I think I've loved you since our high school (remember that, baby)
But you only wanted friends of mine (that crushed me)
So when they replied, "Her? She's cool" (I still took you in)
Only then you gave our friendship time (damn, baby, damn)
You won't say it but you think I'm changing (what you think? Why? Why?)
Is it because the whole world calls me drugs?
But didn't I say I can help or hurt you? (Look)
You should be paranoid without me
And with me feel a buzz
Is that cocky
Or am I high? (High, high, high, high)
Hey, am I high, high, high? (High, high, high, high)
Yeah, oh no, woah
Am I high? (High, high, high, high)
Ooh ooh, high, I, I (high, high, high, high)
Yeah, oh no, woah (or am I?)
It's the kinda high that got me leaning
120 speeding in the rain
Meaning of a hydroplane
Play both sides of the field
See I know 'caine
Keep 'em high like Kurt Cobain, listen (am I high?)
I'm known for speaking my mind
Known for fleeing from the scene of a crime
Eyes redder than the beam of my nine
Eyes redder than the scene of that crime
All for the love of the lime
I'm so high
Insinuating you're not that way
I see how you look and use your eyes (I see it baby, I see it)
But when I ask you can I jump in (please?)
Then you start again with the lies
But if I dare you you'd blow a kiss to another (uhh)
Though my friends have no idea who you could be (don't worry about it)
Don't worry I would never tell another
But I ate your pussy as you laid there beside her, yeah she was sleep
But um am I high? (High, high, high, high)
Hey, am I high, high, high? (High, high, high, high)
Yeah, oh no, woah
Am I high? (High, high, high, high)
Ooh ooh, high, I, I (high, high, high, high)
Yeah, oh no, woah (or no?)
Why am I sitting here peering the sky? (High, high, high, high)
Is there something inside of me or am I high? (High, high, high, high)
From when we talk on the phone 'til when we fuck (high, high, high, high)
This sounds like deep lust to me but I get high on your love (high, high, high, high)
(High, high, high, high)
(High, high, high, high)
In the song "Am I High" by N*E*R*D, the singer, possibly Pharrell Williams, addresses someone with whom he has a complicated relationship. He tells them that he is aware they have been with other people and that he could either help or hurt them, so there is no point in lying. He argues that they let other guys convince them to abandon him, that he has loved them since high school, and that they are paranoid without him. Moreover, the singer insinuates that the person he's addressing is playing games, but he desires them anyway. The phrase "Am I high?" could refer to the physical effects of drugs or the emotional impact of their relationship.
This song has a relatively straightforward message, describing a love that's a bit complicated, as there's a sense of possessiveness and guilt, as well as attempts at reconciliation that the listener might interpret as disingenuous or manipulative.
Line by Line Meaning
La la la la
Introduction to the song
Listen
Request for attention
La la la
Continuation of the introduction
Hey
Greeting to the listener
Didn't you know I can help or hurt you
Understanding of one's ability to either assist or harm
So there's no reason to lie
Acknowledgement that honesty is the best policy
I bet you let those other niggas jerk you
Assumption that others have taken advantage of the listener
Convince you that they are fly
To gain favor through misleading tactics
I never said I was an angel
Acknowledgement of personal faults
Said but I ain't like those other guys
Reinforcement of being different from those who have wronged the listener
Listen
Request for attention
You're convinced that our experience rearranged you
Belief that a shared experience has changed the listener
Well maybe you should reexamine
Suggestion to reconsider and reflect
How you tried
Reviewing efforts made
Am I high?
Questioning potential influence or intoxication
I think I've loved you since our high school
Admitting long-standing feelings
But you only wanted friends of mine
Awareness of the listener's past actions
So when they replied
In the past, the listener only showed interest when others showed interest
Her she's cool
Only then did the listener care about the relationship
Only then you gave our friendship time
When it benefited the listener
You won't say it but you think I'm changing
Perception that the listener believes the artist has changed
Is it because the whole world calls me drugs
Hypothesis that external influences play a role in the listener's beliefs
You should be paranoid without me
The listener benefits from the singer's presence
And with me feel a buzz
The listener experiences a positive feeling when with the artist
Is that cocky or what
Acknowledgement of potentially arrogant behavior
It's the kinda high that got me leaning
Describing the feeling of being under the influence
One hundred and twenty speeding in the rain
Reference to driving while high
Meaning of a hydroplane
The danger and recklessness of the behavior
Play both sides of the field
Being adaptable in different situations
See I know pain
Awareness of difficult experiences
Keep 'em high like Kurt Cobain
Reference to famous musician known for drug use and death by suicide
Listen
Request for attention
I'm known for speaking my mind
Reputation for being honest and vocal
Known for fleeing from the scene of a crime
Acknowledgement of negative behavior
Eyes redder than the beam of my nine
Physical side effect of drug use
Eyes redder than the scene of that crime
Metaphor for being caught in the act
All for the love of the lime
The singer's behavior is influenced by attention
I'm so high
Continuation of describing the feeling of being under the influence
Insinuating you're not that way
Suggesting the listener is not as innocent as they may seem
I see how you look and use your eyes
Paying attention to nonverbal communication
But when I ask you can I jump in
Request for physical intimacy
Then you start again with the lines
The listener makes excuses or is hesitant
But if I dare you you'd blow a kiss to another
The listener may cheat
Though my friends have no idea who you could be
Others are not aware of the listener's true behavior
Don't worry I would never tell another
Implying that the artist has compromising information about the listener
But I ate your pussy as you laid there beside her yes she was asleep
Confession of past sexual activity with the listener's partner
Why am I sitting here
Questioning one's actions
Peering the sky
Looking upwards
Is there something inside of me or am I high
Questioning internal or external factors influencing one's behavior
From when we talk on the phone 'til when we fuck
Continuity of the singer's interest in the listener
This sounds like deep lust to me
Acknowledgement of strong sexual desire
But I get high on your love
Continuation of describing the feeling of being under the influence
Am I high?
Final questioning of whether external or internal factors are influencing one's behavior
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Chad Hugo, Gene Thornton Jr, Pharrell Williams
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind